Monday, March 14, 2011

Dorothy's last day

This morning I took Dorothy to the vet for the last time. She had been going steadily downhill since December, and though he gave her vitamin and steroid injections a few weeks ago, hoping they would perk her up for a little longer, they had no effect. By the time I got back from my trip to Auckland, it was clear that her kidneys had stopped working and she was barely surviving. Though it was the fourth time we've ended a beloved cat's life, it was the first time I've had to go through with it on my own. Still, I'm glad Harvey escaped the sadness of saying goodbye to her.
She was the only cat we've had who grew really attached to me, but only after Harvey became too frail to feed her or have her on his lap. Every night she would sit on me after I went to bed and require a thorough petting before she would settle down to let me read, with my book propped against her.
We got her and her brother as very small kittens over seventeen years ago. As Harvey explained in This Piece of Earth, we called them William and Dorothy after the Wordsworth brother and sister, because we'd recently been to the Lake District. Their names suited them perfectly. William had a strong sense of self-importance and miaowed a great deal, demanding our attention and service. Dorothy, with her pretty Victorian cat-face and her immaculate little white fichu front and paws, bustled quietly about, purred a lot but seldom spoke (when she did, she had a strange, rather grating cry), and loved being outside, preferably with Harvey. Here's part of a poem he wrote about her, when we were living in Farm Road:

Our foolish cat patiently
watched me cut liver into
catsized pieces, then as
I dropped it to her dish
sprinted out the open back
door to sit mewing at the
closed front door waiting
for me to let her in. Cats
rightly enter with style.

And she exited, if not with style, then at least with dignity, love and respect.

3 comments:

I think I must have seen that poem of Harvey's somewhere already... perhaps on his blog? I remember the idea of cats doing things with style. One should always remember that while dogs are slaves, cats have staff.

What a lovely cat. I started thinking about all of the beloved cats and dogs (and one or two horses) that I've had to make this horribly difficult decision about. Sad thoughts, but I'm so happy that all of them were part of my life.

The Colour of Food: a memoir of life, love & dinner

INTERVIEW

Also in ebook

This Piece of Earth: a year in my New Zealand garden

Harvey's memoir, now available as an Awa Press e-book - click on the cover to see how to buy it.

MY FOOD BLOG

Click on the lemons to go to Something Else To Eat

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At my book launch - Lois Daish, me, Mary Varnham of Awa Press. Click on the photo to go to the book's Facebook page.

Harvey's last anthology, These I Have Loved: My favourite New Zealand poems, published by Steele Roberts, was launched on 10/10/2010. To see what Beattie's Book Blog has to say about it, click on the cover.

"I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most." — Margaret Atwood